This invention relates to a body fluid absorbent garment adapted for absorbing and containing of body fluids discharged thereon, such as disposable diapers, urine absorbent pads for incontinent, diaper liners, panty liners or sanitary napkins.
Japanese Utility Model Application Disclosure No. 1994-21626 describes a disposable diaper comprising a liquid-pervious topsheet, a liquid-impervious backsheet and a liquid-absorbent core disposed between these two sheets. A pair of absorbent auxiliary members transversely spaced from each other and longitudinally extend on the topsheet at least in a crotch region so that these auxiliary members may protrude upwardly of the core and have a compressive modulus higher than that of the core. Such high compressive modulus ensures these auxiliary members to fit to a wearer""s skin and to prevent excretion from leaking sideways even when the auxiliary members are deformed under a wearer""s body weight since the auxiliary members can rapidly restore their initial positions and function to absorb or barrier off excretion.
If a relatively large amount of urine is discharged, a rate of urination will exceed a rate at which the core is capable to absorb urine. As a result, an amount of urine staying on the upper surface of the core may flow backward and cause undesirable leak. The diaper disclosed in the above-identified Disclosure includes no means promoting urine to spread over the entire surface zone of the core defined between the auxiliary members. If the amount of discharged urine is too large to be absorbed by the auxiliary members themselves, the rest amount of urine may stay on the core at its zone onto which urine is discharged, then spread and leak outward sideways beyond the respective auxiliary members. Furthermore, if the amount of urine absorbed by the auxiliary members can not be smoothly transferred into the core, such amount of urine staying in the auxiliary members may exude as the auxiliary members are collapsed under the wearer""s body weight.
The object of this invention is to provide a body fluid absorbent garment including a liquid-absorbent core formed with a pair of protruding barriers adapted to barrier off liquid excretion such as loose passage, urine or menstrual discharge so that such liquid excretion may rapidly spread over the entire surface zone of the core defined between the protruding barriers and be absorbed from the surface zone into the core well before undesirable leak of excretion might occur.
The object of this invention is also to provide a body fluid absorbent garment ensuring that the amount of excretion having been absorbed by the protruding barriers to be smoothly transferred into the core without any possibility that the amount of excretion might exude from the protruding barriers.
According to this invention, there is provided a body fluid absorbent garment having transversely opposite and longitudinally extending side edges and longitudinally opposite and transversely extending ends, comprising: a liquid-pervious topsheet; a liquid-impervious backsheet; a liquid-absorbent core disposed therebetween; the core being formed on a side thereof immediately underlying the topsheet with a pair of protruding barriers spaced from each other along at least said transversely opposite side edges of said transversely opposite side edges and said longitudinally opposite ends; and the protruding barriers having a density lower than that of the core in a base zone thereof free from formation of the protruding barriers.
With the body fluid absorbent garment according to this invention, excretion rapidly spreads over the surface of the core and is rapidly absorbed by the core in its zone other than its protruding zones. Even if a relatively large amount of excretion is locally discharged onto the garment, it is not apprehended that the excretion might stay in such zone onto which the excretion is directly discharged and leak beyond the protruding zones.
The amount of excretion having reached the protruding zones is successively absorbed by these protruding zones before any amount of such excretion might leak sideways beyond the side edges of the garment. The excretion having been absorbed by the protruding zones having a relatively low density is immediately absorbed by the rest zone having a relatively high density and therefore it is not apprehended that the excretion might exude out from the protruding zones even if the protruding zones are collapsed under a wearer""s body weight. The protruding zones are more soft than the rest zone and, in addition, have their corners appropriately rounded, so give the wearer no feeling of discomfort as these protruding zones come in contact with the wearer""s skin.